There are numerous rescue tools presently in existence.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,159 to Spinelli covers the shortcomings of many examples of the prior art very well. These examples are incorporated herein by reference to Spinelli. However, Spinelli's own shortcomings exist primarily in the fact that Spare Air™ and their like containers of compressed air are very solid in order to actively contain the compression of the air inside. These solid and heavy objects in a violent collision can fly around the passenger compartment, striking occupants on the head as well as causing immobility and injury to the user's hands & fingers. Spinelli's system heightens the danger to the situation and ironically leaves the user in greater harms way than originally presented with.
Spinelli is a self-evacuation tool focusing on compressed air breathing apparatus. Although Spinelli does have peripheral window breaking and seatbelt cutting tool, its main focus is on underwater breathing and not the multi-task-oriented self-evacuation of occupants in all automotive emergencies. It and prior art fail to address the usability of said devices with automotive emergencies involving collision induced entrapment of occupants under heat, smoke, and toxic gas environments in addition to underwater incidents.
Obstruction of the primary path of egress, the low visibility environment, the buoyancy of rescue equipment as well as precautions taken for anti-slip hand surfaces and waterproof capabilities have all been recklessly ignored in prior art. This is unacceptable and is caused partly because the safety standards of other mandated fields pertaining to the preservation and salvation of human life are not applied to automotive emergencies. We intend to change that, through safely and effectively providing a comprehensive Emergency Self-Evacuation System with the tools to do the job that is designed to meet the demands of an atmosphere that is classified as the “intended target incident of use”.
It and the prior art further completely miss the fact that lights should be waterproof. A vehicle sinking in a canal, river or the like must have waterproof illumination so to allow occupants to see the provided rescue tools and then use them. Prior art may have installed a light on said devices, however, if you can't count on that light to work while the environment is submerged underwater then the product is dangerously faulty since the implied feature of a light leaves the user with a false sense of assurance that the device will be effective in such incidents. Unlike prior art, the instant invention also has reflective, fluorescent and buoyancy properties added to the tool and emergency cord. Most vehicles involved in collision, rollover, fire, airbag deployment, and/or entrance into below grade bodies of water such as canals, lakes, and ponds will involve a mixture of motor vehicle hazards including but not limited to toxic fumes, airborne powder particulate, fluids, oils, and properties that make the environment extremely dangerous to the occupant. In addition to these qualities of environment expected to exist in the “intended target incident of use” for such instant invention, the surfaces will be non-conducive to enhanced dexterity at pin point accuracy. This leaves a good chance of dropping prior art tools into said environment causing the users' availability to use it to be lost.
Contrarily to the prior art, the instant invention is a complete system for self-evacuation utilizing a rescue tool in a pre-plan for an organized and systematic removal of occupants within the confines of an automobile.
Going beyond the faulty effectiveness of the prior art, the instant invention improves upon existing and current art designs that merely cut seatbelts and break glass with a flashlight thrown in as an afterthought. Instant invention 10 provides a complete system that incorporates the life safety code of American safety standards into an evacuation system designed for entrapped occupants within an automobile during an automotive emergency.
It is an object of the instant invention to add several novel changes to the typical prior art rescue tool.